Sooraj Cherukat (born 17 October 1992), known professionally as Hanumankind, is a rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor from

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, India. He released his first single "Daily Dose" from his debut EP ''Kalari'' in 2019. He received mainstream popularity in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and internationally with his track "

Big Dawgs "Big Dawgs" is a song recorded by Indian rapper Hanumankind together with producer Kalmi. It was released on July 9, 2024, by Universal Music India. The music video, in which Hanumankind performs within a classic carnival attraction known as th ...

", which features the

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

-based artist and producer Kalmi and American rapper

ASAP Rocky Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a member of the hip hop music, hip hop coll ...

on its remix. He acted in the 2024 Malayalam film, '' Rifle Club'', directed by

Aashiq Abu Aashiq Abu (born 12 April 1978) is an Indian film director, producer, cinematographer, actor, and distributor, who works in Malayalam cinema. He is best known for his films such as '' Daddy Cool'' (2009), '' Salt N' Pepper'' (2011), '' 22 Female ...

Early life and education

Sooraj Cherukat was born in 1992, in

Malappuram, Kerala Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a municipality and town in Kerala and the headquarters of the Malappuram district in Kerala, India. It is the 4th largest urban agglomeration in Kerala and the 25th largest in India, spread over an area of ...

, India. His father works for a leading oil company, as a result he moved around a lot. As a child, Cherukat lived in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

before settling down in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

when he was in second grade. He attended

Houston Community College Houston Community College (HCC), also known as the Houston Community College System (HCCS), is a community college that operates community colleges in Houston, Texas, Houston, Missouri City, Texas, Missouri City, Greater Katy, and Stafford, Texas ...

. In 2012, he returned to India enrolling at PSG College in

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

, Tamil Nadu to pursue a degree in business administration. He worked at

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

in 2014, and also as a personal trainer.

Music career

Cherukat began his career as a professional rapper by performing at

NH7 Weekender NH7 Weekender is an annual, multi-city and multi-genre, music and comedy festival held in India, organised by NODWIN Gaming. It began in Pune, Maharashtra in India, as a three-day, multi-genre, music festival in 2010. Since 2012 it has expanded ...

, which is held in multiple cities and releasing his debut EP ''Kalari'', in 2019. The name Hanumankind is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

deity

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

and "mankind". He initially collabed with

Charan Raj Charan Rajkumar is an Indian actor, director, film producer, and writer who works in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia and Hindi films. Career Charan Raj is a versatile actor who is popular for his villainy and character roles in South ...

and

Sanjith Hegde Sanjith Hegde is an Indian playback singer. Hegde has sung songs in Kannada, Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. His rendition of "Gunu Gunuguva" from the film ''Dalapathi'' composed by Charan Raj (composer), Cha ...

for the song "Maadeva" featuring on the

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

movie ''

Popcorn Monkey Tiger ''Popcorn Monkey Tiger'' is a 2020 Indian Kannada-language action crime film directed by Duniya Soori and produced by K. M. Sudhir. It serves as a sequel to the 2015 film ''Kendasampige''. The film features Dhananjaya, Amrutha Iyengar, Nivedhi ...

''. His song "The Last Dance" is featured on the official soundtrack for the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

-language film '' Aavesham''. He gained widespread recognition both with the release of the single and its music video "

", featuring Kalmi, in July 2024. The accompanying music video directed by Bijoy Shetty, features Cherukat performing in a classic carnival attraction with motorcycles known as the well of death. The video was shot in

Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a municipality and town in Kerala and the headquarters of the Malappuram district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Kerala, 4th largest urban agglomeration in Kerala and ...

, his hometown district in

state in

, and was featured on the official

Kerala tourism Kerala, a state situated on the tropical Malabar Coast of southwestern India, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. Named as one of the ''ten paradises of the world'' by ''National Geographic Traveler'', Kerala is famo ...

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

page. The video has gained significant attention for its unique ideas and high-octane energy. In 2025, he released his song "Run it Up", which was then later used by Netflix at the Netflix Tudum Event.

Artistry

While living in Houston, Cherukat was exposed to

Southern hip hop Southern hip-hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip-hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip-hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee ...

and listened to artists like

Chamillionaire Hakeem Temidayo Seriki (born November 28, 1979), better known by his stage name Chamillionaire (), is an American rapper. He began his career in Houston's hip hop scene in the late 1990s. He was briefly signed with the local record label Swishah ...

Three 6 Mafia Three 6 Mafia is an American hip-hop group from Memphis, Tennessee, formed in 1991. Emerging as a horror-themed underground hip-hop group, they went on to enjoy mainstream success. The group's 1995 debut album ''Mystic Stylez'' became an influen ...

Project Pat Patrick Earl Houston (born February 8, 1973), known professionally as Project Pat, is an American rapper from Memphis, Tennessee. He is the older brother of Juicy J, the co-founder of Three 6 Mafia. Houston was formerly a member of the hip-hop ...

UGK UGK (short for Underground Kingz) was an American hip-hop duo from Port Arthur, Texas, formed in 1987, by Mitchell "Big Mitch" Queen who would eventually leave the group to pursue a football career and Chad "Pimp C" Butler with Bernard "Bun B" ...

, and

DJ Screw Robert Earl Davis Jr. (July 20, 1971 – November 16, 2000), better known by his stage name DJ Screw, was an American hip hop DJ based in Houston, Texas, and best known as the creator of the chopped and screwed DJ technique. He was a centra ...

. He is also a fan of System of a Down. His musical style is significantly influenced by

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born in a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his d ...

, and

Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Film songs

Filmography

Notes

References

External links

* {{IMDb name, id=11836728
HanumanKind
at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

1992 births 21st-century Indian male singers 21st-century American rappers Indian rappers Indian singer-songwriters Living people Musicians from Kerala People from Malappuram American people of Indian descent